Auhona Roy Chowdhury, Pune
India’s G20 presidency has set the stage for the Youth 20 Summit at the Rudraksha International Cooperation and Convention Centre in Varanasi from August 17 to August 20. Hosted by the Department of Youth Affairs under the Union Ministry of Youth and Sports, the summit highlighted the concept of ‘Yuva Shakti’ or youth power, as India’s driving force.
Over 100 international delegates from the G20 and guest countries, along with international organizations, participated in deliberations and negotiations focused on the Y20 Draft Communique. The summit’s themes spanned the future of Work within Industry 4.0, Innovation and 21st Century Skills, a shared future involving Youth in Democracy and Governance, as well as Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction.
The discussions also brought attention to the MyGov platform, a pivotal citizen engagement tool of the Indian government. Through the presentation, attendees gained insight into how MyGov collaborates with various government bodies and ministries to involve citizens in policy formulation and gather opinions on issues of public interest and welfare. The platform’s notable achievements include soliciting input for policies like national education, data protection, and more.
Conversations were centered around the recommendations of the G20 agenda, which are currently being compiled into the ‘Y20 communique’. It is the outcome of extensive months of recommendations, creative thinking, brainstorming sessions, engagements with young individuals, and dialogues that fostered a discourse on matters of global significance, as stated in the announcement. An ‘Organizer’s Conference’ was also held. It reflected on the learnings from the past few months since the Inception Meeting of the Youth 20 Summit held in February in Guwahati.